We are so blessed to have known our grandmothers growing up. Not only did I love them, I enjoyed and adored them. Our dad’s mom lived only a few blocks away and my childhood memories are filled with riding in the truck to go fishing, sleep overs in her back yard and bike rides to her house just to follow her around while she was doing whatever she was doing. She might be cleaning or cooking dinner or canning or once in awhile even making taffy. And, oh my gosh, was she funny. We would ask “Grandma, is it true pepper makes you sneeze?”, then she would get some pepper out and sniff it and start sneezing to prove it to us. One Thanksgiving someone said “Grandma, this sure is great pumpkin pie” to which she responded “let’s not call it pumpkin”. She cracked us up. Even in the hospital during her last days, every, this is no exaggeration, every nurse, orderly or person who came in contact with her would tell us how funny she was. And it wasn’t like she was trying to be funny, she just was, off the cuff. Her stories were as entertaining as they seemed effortless. I could go on and on about them. She loved church, fishing, camping, basketball and baseball. She was very small and would tell us about a time, when playing high school basketball she ran through someone’s legs. One of the cool things about becoming of a certain age is now seeing my sisters become grandmothers and how much their grandchildren love, enjoy and adore their Grammy and Oma. The grandkids have the same look their eyes, I’m sure we had, like they’re thinking - “I can do nothing wrong in her opinion, she understands me, she adores me, she thinks I’m interesting and if I ask really nicely, she will give me candy!”My grandma has been on my mind lots lately. I’m not sure why, maybe the time of year or thinking about going to Ireland next year, where my sister says there are lots of women who look like my grandma there. So I was delighted to receive my regular email from Tara Sophia Mohr – Wise Living (check her out at www.taramohr.com) about a new book coming out called “Grandma Power” written by pioneering author and photographer Paola Gianturco. Grandmother Power is a phenomenon going on around the globe – but not so present in the U.S. yet – of grandmothers coming together to lead and transform their communities. Tara expresses hope the book will spark all of us to think about the role of grandmothers in our culture and the importance of having women elders in leadership positions. You can read her interview with the author at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tara-sophia-mohr/grandmothers-changing-the-world-_b_1879542.html.When I think back on the traits we each have, from our grandma, Ethel Faye Lamb,, either through genetics or instilled in us from the many hours spent with her, I’m reminded of what an inspiration she was to me. An inspiration which continues to grow today as I see that same wonderfully special relationship reincarnated with my sisters and their grandchildren. And their compassion and grandmotherly acceptance and warmth spread to not only their own family but gestures and attention spread to families around them near and far. The official Grandmother Power phenomenon may not as present in the US yet but the power of the Grandmothers in my life are nothing less than Phenomenal.Sylvia